Britannica Student Encyclopedia - 2010

cultures, and physical regions. When

the colonies gained independence they

kept those boundaries, but there were

often tensions between the people who

had been forced to live together. At the

same time, however, many Asian

countries worked hard to improve their

economies.

..More to explore

Arabian Peninsula • Buddhism

• Christianity • Himalayas • Hinduism

• Indus Valley Civilization • Islam

• Judaism • Mesopotamia • Middle East

• Mongol Empire • Persia • Union of

Soviet Socialist Republics

Facts About

ASIA

Area

17,291,121 sq mi (44,783,797 sq km)

Population

(2008 estimate) 4,056,802,260

Largest Country by Area

Asian portion of Russia: 5,051,400 sq mi

(13,083,065 sq km)

Smallest Country by Area

Maldives: 115 sq mi (298 sq km)

Largest Country by Population

China (2008 estimate) 1,324,681,000

Smallest Country by Population

Maldives (2008 estimate) 386,000

Largest Cities

Beijing, China; Mumbai (Bombay), India;

Seoul, South Korea; Delhi, India; Tokyo,

Japan

Longest River

Yangtze River, China: 3,915 mi (6,300 km)

Largest Lake

Caspian Sea (Asia/Europe): 143,000 sq mi

(370,000 sq km)

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Asia 205

 

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is the place where the continents

of Asia and Europe meet. It is also

known by its Greek name, Anatolia. In

the past Asia Minor was a meeting point

for travelers passing between Asia and

Europe. Today it is part of the country

of Turkey.

Asia Minor is a peninsula, or a piece of

land surrounded by water on three sides.

The Black Sea lies to the north. The

Aegean Sea lies to the west. The Mediterranean

Sea is to the south. The peninsula

extends westward from Asia toward

Europe.

#More to explore

Asia • Europe • Turkey

Asian Americans

Asian Americans are people in the

United States whose ancestors came

from Asia. Many Asian Americans were

born in Asia and later moved, or immigrated,

to the United States. However,

many other Asian Americans were born

in the United States. Their families often

have been in the country for several generations.

Asian Americans have roots in many

different countries. The largest groups of

Asian Americans have ancestors from

China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam,

Korea, or Japan. Many other Asian

Americans have ancestors from Cambodia,

Laos, Pakistan, or Thailand. Smaller

groups of Asian Americans have roots in

many other Asian countries. (A tiny

group has roots in the part of Asia called

the Middle East. However, many of

these people are better known as Arab

Americans.)

Early Asian Immigrants

Asians did not start immigrating to the

United States until the 1800s.Workers

from China began arriving in the United

States in about 1820. A gold rush in

California in the mid-1800s brought

many more Chinese people to theWest

Coast. In the 1860s about 15,000 Chinese

workers helped to build the transcontinental

(cross-country) railroad.

Almost all the early Chinese immigrants

were young men. Many came to earn

money but planned to return to China.

Others decided to stay.

Meanwhile, in the 1850s and 1860s,

people from China and Japan began

arriving in Hawaii. They came mainly to

work on sugar plantations, or large

farms. Thousands more Japanese arrived

in Hawaii during the 1880s. In the early

1900s workers from Korea and the Philippines

also came to work on Hawaii’s

plantations.

People called

the Hittites

lived in Asia

Minor from

about 1700 to

1180 BC. After

that many different

groups

ruled the area.

It became part

of the Republic

of Turkey in

1923.

206 Asia Minor BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA

 

During the late 1800s and early 1900s,

many immigrants from Japan, Korea,

and the Philippines settled on theWest

Coast. Smaller numbers came from

India. Many Asian immigrants worked

on farms in California.

Discrimination

Asian immigrants often faced discrimination,

or unfair treatment, from whites.

In addition, the U.S. government did

not allow them to become U.S. citizens.

This meant that Asian immigrants did

not have the same rights as immigrants

from Europe.

Eventually, the government passed laws

to stop Asians from immigrating to the

United States. In 1882 the U.S. Congress

passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

This law stopped Chinese people from

immigrating to the United States. The

Immigration Act of 1924 stopped all

immigration from Asia.

Despite this discrimination, many Asian

Americans started families, set up businesses,

and built communities in the

United States. Their children, born in

the United States, became U.S. citizens.

Many Asian Americans served in the

U.S. military.

Japanese Internment

In 1941 Japan bombed the U.S. military

base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The

United States then joinedWorldWar II.

During the war, the U.S. government

saw all Japanese Americans as possible

Chinese New Year festivities attract crowds to the neighborhood called Chinatown in

Chicago, Illinois.

A Japanese American family has their bags

packed for their move to an internment camp.

BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Asian Americans 207

 

enemies. It distrusted even those who

had been born in the United States and

were citizens.

The government forced Japanese Americans

on theWest Coast to move to special

camps, called internment camps.